#tlf writing

[thelavenderelf]

WIP Whenever ✨

I present to you a small little snippet of the beginning of Unstable Chapter 6!!! It was hard choosing what I wanted to show so as to not spoil certain things >:D

A cold wet slush plops onto Vilkas's face, shocking him awake. He quickly swipes it off before squinting his eyes at the morning sun shining through snow-heavy branches. Another blob falls, this time landing on his bare stomach. He flinches and groans as he sits his aching body up.

The winter winds howl like wolves as he looks out upon the valley of Whiterun. He pinches the bridge of his nose and curses under his breath. He doesn't remember how he got here. He never does.

He braces the tree as he struggles to stand, trying to ignore his pounding head and what feels like knives digging into his skull. It feels like a nasty hangover, but the past few weeks have been nothing but a mushy blur. Yet he feels good, alive, awake. His mind is clearer than it has been in days and he thanks the gods for it. 

If only he could say this wasn't a common occurrence but lately the call of the blood has become too loud to ignore. Perhaps he’s finally lost it and this is just the beginning of his slow descent into finally losing himself to Hircine. He swears he can hear the Daedric prince calling to him every night, beckoning him to give into his instincts and hunt. 

At least, he thinks it’s Hircine. There is no other plausible explanation for the yellow-eyed thing that follows him at night, taunting and torturing him to give in. It crawls under his skin and it burns and burns until he's writhing to not claw his own flesh off for some sliver of relief.  

But this is the last time he’ll give in. He can’t let Hircine win and he can’t disappoint Kodlak anymore than he already has. 

I promise.

[dorkacademia]

the tumblr girlies should stop sleeping on donna tartt's the little friend. it has something for everyone. the waifish coquette dollettecore lana del rey aesthetic preachers. the weirdgirls™. the ones with religious trauma. the southern gothic enjoyers. the has-been formerly rich + stately family enthusiasts. unconventional family lovers. americana advocates. childhood adventures tainted by a dark presence appreciators.

murder past, death everlooming, danger sought, hazy summers and fabricated memories. it feels like a soporiferous, hazy, hot summer afternoon daydreaming about your town's mysteries and making up unseemly explanations for them or reading your favorite childhood adventure book while knowing how it would realistically end.

tw for repeated use of the n word tho

[inquisimer]

pspspsps

[piss3dm3nk3n]

I can name at least 2 characters for each book Donna Tartt has written where they have issues with their fathers 

[armandjolras]

white ladies from the American South who were raised by Black maids should be required to take a sensitivity training before they’re allowed to write a novel about it. (Stephen King doesn't fit this category but should also be required to take this training)

[y2kbugs]

Why Rincewind deserves your love

Tumblr loves characters like Rincewind right now. The sad, weary one who really doesn't want to be here but does it anyway cause no one else bothered, and is often vulnerable, cowardly, and a weakling compared to everyone else. In other words, the pathetic wet cat, the poor little meow meow.

Vimes is also a perfect example of this archetype, he's there and he's great, but Rincewind to me is a sort of hidden gem bogged down by the author's early writing and the struggle to live up to those later, more deep characters. It doesn't really help that Pratchett also got bored of writing him, and only felt obligated because he had fans (which in a way sounds like Rincewind himself), but...

The first two books aren't even bad. The only thing I'd say is that TCOM has some confusing writing going on and feels more like a collection of stories but it's good and could be better if rewritten. Rincewind is a wonderful character and Twoflower is a delight. TLF is a definite improvement writing and character wise and gives development to Rincewind.

He's not "a weak character who doesn't do anything but run". He is not badly written. He is a character who does not want to be the hero but does it anyway. He has deep empathy and believes that throwing your life away for a good cause is inherently selfish rather than selfless (and! he does this himself, kind of. He does make a sacrifice to help somebody, but he lives).

He isn't stupid. He might be the smartest character in his books, but that's more because the other characters are relatively kind of dumb. The only thing he's really bad at is being a wizard, that's it. He's not a good wizard, but he's a great strategist, he knows a lot about magic, knows almost every language on Discworld and this was how he got to know Twoflower in the first place. I would call him an average intelligence and very high wisdom character in DnD. He's intensely rational and will point out gaps in reasoning and logic. He might be a pessimist, but he has experience and he's going to use that.

That's not to say he doesn't make mistakes. He absolutely does, but making dumb mistakes is much different from willful and sheer ignorance which he does not display.

His hat says "Wizzard" because it's supposed to be a pun on "he can't spell", and it's highly unlikely that he actually misspelled it not knowing the actual spelling considering he reads a lot.

He is very, very defensive and adamant about his identity as a wizard. It's pretty much everything to him and he has a crisis whenever other characters mock and have general distrust of wizards.

He's done the following:

Beat the shit out of an eldritch horror until it ran away from him (TLF),

forced an extremely powerful spell out of his head with sheer will (TLF),

Defeated the most powerful deceased wizard possessing a magical staff with only a brick in a sock, and took both himself and the wizard's son into the Dungeon Dimensions, where he fought back creatures to allow the boy to escape. (Sourcery)

Gave the boy a speech about how it's important to not let anyone define who you are as a person and no one should have to tell you what to do (Sourcery)

Used a whole terracotta army to beat an entire army, and succesffully intimidated them via psychological tricks. (Interesting Times)

Brought rain back to Fantasy Australia and talked back against Death who convinced him to give up. (TLC)

Maybe he's not the most sympathetic character, because he's not chivalrous or manly. He has no bravery and freely admits to being a coward, he's kind of a jerk who cools down as time goes on, and he's selfish enough that he thinks being selfless is a total waste of time and is selfish in itself. He's a cynic and a pessimist with a worldview shaped by his terrible experiences on Discworld, but he's very well-traveled even against his own will, and from this experience he knows precisely how to get out of danger, how to outsmart an individual (or a whole army) and more.

He's shown empathy. Being tired at the world at large and not liking the other wizards very much but going out of his way to save the world from a wizard gone rogue anyway because nobody else bothered to and he's angry, saving a boy from his abusive father's power and diving headfirst into the Dungeon Dimensions, trying to convince an "army" of mostly children why trying to fight against a legitimate army of warriors is a horrible idea and will only get them killed, Helping some thirsty sheep out to get access to water despite not needing to, bringing rain back to Fantasy Australia even though he could have given up and gone home at any moment, being made a "test subject" for the wizard's project in creating Roundworld/Earth, learning aabout the life on there over millions of years and talking about how hard it is for life to grow on there in its earliest millions of years, teaching Roundworld inhabitats the importance of art and creativity not only to outsmart the elves but because he wanted to (while the other wizards considered him stupid for this idea).

And he doesn't want to be a hero, he has no obligation to and is perfectly happy just being alone in the library and reading old books. He wants a life of peace and quiet and nothing life-threatening, but unfortunately he's pushed into these situations. Often though instead of simply resigning himself and giving up altogether, he sucks it up and goes and does it anyway with the expectation that he can go home in the end. That, and by now he's already expected this is his role: to fix shit and go home, even though he'd love to have someone else do his job.

It rubs me the wrong way to see people call him one-dimensional or just "the guy that is scared and runs away"...That to me is like simply calling Vimes "the depressed cop who drinks a lot" or Granny Weatherwax "the old witch who kicks ass". Of course the character will seem one dimensional if you describe them that way. Vimes is better written overall and gets better development for sure, which is also what his character is built for, as well as a more serious story that doesn't lend itself as well to basically slapstick. Rincewind isn't built for overcoming his fears, but rather his selfish attitude and to finally find peace with himself, and he works as a comedic character while also balancing out the fact he can be anything other than a clown or coward.

He gets what he always wanted in the end too. Pratchett might not have wanted to write him anymore, but instead of simply putting him on a bus, he gave Rincewind a position at Unseen University, only dampened by the fact the other wizards clearly don't respect him, therefore he can't really be a professor as a job, but he doesn't mind. In fact, he loves that. He gets free food, a quiet place to stay, and has zero obligations. He's happy, and the last thing we know of him is that he's studying the effects of plants on the nervous system (Raising Steam), and he's very important in the Science Of Discworld series, initially being a test subject and later being the "to go" for information about Roundworld/Earth, even getting to keep the globe in his room.

[md-confessions]

Fic Idea: (might actually write it !!!) Uzi is trying to take her robo-estrogen shot but this time she's really scared of doing it, this is post cabin fever so Uzi can now feel pain, she's scared of how much the needle is gonna hurt, so N walks in on Uzi sitting on the toilet holding an estrogen shot. N being the good friend/boyfriend (dunno what to make their relationship be exactly, dunno whether I make them already a thing or just friends or have it up for interpretation) decides to try to help Uzi out.

- TLF

⠀

[i-wear-sunglasses-inside]

So I’m reading “Yellowface” by RF Kuang. I’m like 80% of the way through and one thing I’ve noticed that June keeps saying is that she “put [her] blood and sweat into The Last Front”. The full phrase is usually that you put your blood, sweat, *and tears* into something.

But the thing is, June makes a point to tell the narrator that the only real lie she tells us about the authorship of The Last Front, and she doesn’t put her tears into that book, so of course she wouldn’t say she did. And I think that’s a really genius move on Kuang’s part to make that distinction, because tears imply a certain amount of vulnerability, but part of the harm that June does in the first half of the story is directly tied into the fact that, because she didn’t write the original draft and because she has no personal stake in Chinese history, the contents of The Last Front are not a vulnerable or sensitive point for her. She allows historical events and cultural context to be cut and softened for western readers and allows whiteness to be centered in many of the scenes as well as in the meeting with the production company, and these are all issues that never would have surfaced if TLF was genuinely June’s, which I just think is really interesting

[brf-rumortrackinganon]

Theresa Longo Fans@BarkJack_

Prince Harry is actively enjoying time in the USA despite reports he’s ‘homesick’. An exclusive source says H&M are fuming after their correspondence was not responded to promptly ahead of Trooping of the Colour!

...

They made some attempt to call text email or write and were ignored.

----------

The above posts suggest to me that the attempt to get attention via jam and dog biscuits was a rash response to 'being ignored'. Nachos took the photos in daylight but posted just before midnight, if my assessment of time is correct. If she went to all the attempt to make jam and dog biscuits to actually market a brand, then there would have been a similar approach to the strawberry jam 'launch'. If she simply sent the products to a friend, and is serious about launching the brand, she would have asked him to not post as the timing and the poor presentation might hurt the brand. This was an amateur and rash attempt to get attention. Her subsequent denial is pure gaslighting.

TLF isn’t a trustworthy site. None of the blind gossip accounts, websites, channels are.

[pestomoment]

i think im due for an intro post 🤎

✰ welcome!! i'm pesto/tomato/tomatopesto (depending on the platform) and i'm an 18 year old artist from the US ☕️ current interests are as follows ⎯ team fortress 2, tarttverse (tsh, tlf, tgf), doctor who, dragons (wof, primarily), and birds. i love my ocs* very much and may occasionally post them as well. don't ask me about them, i'm insane (joke)

✰ i'm a massive multishipper!!! gentle surgery and papenwinter are my favs but i love many, many ships. that being said, proshippers are NOT welcome here.

✰ more stuff about me 🕊️ i love found family dynamics and whatever the hell spy has going on. i like to write, but rarely post any of it. summer thunderstorms are one of my favorite things ever, and my favorite season is fall.

✰ you're bound to see me adding medic's doves to doodles. i do love them. thank you for reading, enjoy your stay :)

*my two main ocs/sonas, ford valero and pesto. (also known as pestocat because i think it's silly) you're bound to see them show up at some point or another.

[artfight 2024] joint writing blog; istillhearyou-stranger

[hardboiledteacozy]

At this rate, it's going to take me longer to buy all the Discworld books than it took Pterry to write em. I first bought TCoM when I was still in highschool and getting books in English was A Big Deal here. Then I got ER and TLF on my post highschool Europe trip, in a library at Cambridge, iirc.

Fast forward 12 years after that, when I got GP, followed by this year's three acquisitions.

Still, there's something charming about getting to have so many different editions, so I'll take it

[thelavenderelf]

WIP Whenever ✨

I know this is a few days late, but I've been tagged by @friend-of-giants and @miraakulous-cloud-district to share some WIPs! I normally don't like sharing snippets of my writing while I still work on it, but I'm in a "don't let your perfectionism get in the way and just share the thing" mood. So here is a raw, unedited snippet of the beginning of Unstable Chapter 3!

I tag anyone who reads this 😘

Images of marble hallways lit by a cold moon haunt Sylvana's mind. The hall stretches on forever, yet its walls webbed with golden filigree constrict her lungs. She needs to run. Needs to escape. But like the columns lining the walls, her legs are stiff and she falls. A sharp blade drips crimson onto ancient stone floors, making a pool that reflects a cruel, smiling maw lunging for her throat. 

She jerks awake and hits her forehead on the edge of a table. A string of curses leaves her as she falls back down. Sweat drips between her back and the shoddy bench she lays upon. She rubs her head, trying to soothe the annoying throbbing pain that won't go away. 

Another nightmare? Really? This better not become a habit but so far it's two for two. What makes it worse is that it played out like the one she had earlier. It must be the stress mixed with the aftereffects of whatever was in that poison. It still hasn’t worn off despite it being hours since she was stuck. 

Clumsy fingers reach for her unfinished bottle of mead but find a metal chain instead. She pulls it and the strange amulet from earlier dangles above her face. She studies it, taking a closer look now that she has the time. The amethyst embedded into serpentine ebony gleams in the firelight. She swears the amulet is an exact copy of Savos Aren's, a perfect match. Even the slight hum of magic triggers the sting of bittersweet familiarity.

Savos Aren was a man of many secrets yet forthcoming whenever she needed him. He always wore his amulet. At one point she inquired about it, mesmerized by its elegant design but he brushed her off. It was unusual for him to dodge a question like that but at the time it didn’t seem important so she let it go. Now she’ll have to feel guilty while going through his things to find answers.

Perhaps the amulets are family heirlooms and she stumbled across one that was lost. Or maybe it's a coincidence and whoever made the pendants just really like this particular design. She could also just be reading way too into things, but it's better than spiraling down the pit of grief that sits heavy on her chest from Kodlak’s death. 

If only Lucien were here, she could bounce her theories off of him and listen to his. He would be saying something off the wall yet incredibly profound right now. Like, "what if the Silverhand  looted it off of a werewolf who was Savos's secret lover?" 

Gods, she misses her friends. They temporarily split for a while after accidentally cracking open a hornet’s nest of Thalmor while trying to steal back a family heirloom for a client. She misses Lucien’s outlandish observations, Inigo’s crazy yet true stories, Auri’s cannibalism jokes, and Kaidan’s constant cussing. Everything would be so much better if they were here, and she could pull herself together with one big group hug. And better yet, she wouldn’t be here with Vilkas. 

Ugh, that scruffy asshole! Why in Oblivion would she open up about her mother to him, of all people? Even her close friends barely know anything about that, yet she served it to him on a silver platter. And the worst part is that he sat there, listened, and then had the audacity to show compassion. She’s never felt more embarrassed, and she hates it. Hates it, hates it, hates it. 

With a groan, she lifts herself to rest her head on the table. The bottle of unfinished mead reunites with her and they share a long kiss. Ah, Nordic Mead, the only lover she will ever need. 

The pieces of Wuuthrad are haphazardly spread out before her, a puzzle beckoning to be solved and she complies. She picks up each individual piece and arranges them to try and resemble the legendary battleaxe. One particular fragment makes her pause— a snow elf frozen in an eternal scream is carved into what she assumes is the head of the axe. It’s suiting for a weapon nicknamed “the elf-grinder.” She smooths her fingers over the dark metal and sighs. The horrors this poor elf must have seen. 

“Oh the stories you could tell,” she whispers to it like an old friend. 

“Read the Songs of the Return if you want your story.” A voice speaks up, making her jump and drop the piece. It clatters on the table as she turns to see Vilkas leaning on a pillar. He smooths his disheveled hair away from his tired eyes. 

"You– Don't startle me like that!" Rarely anyone is able to sneak up on her, she doesn't allow it. No one, except… No. It reminds her too much of skilled fingers, a sly smile, and a voice that always sent shivers down her spine with his honeyed words. She'd much rather forget him, for now. 

"Huh, maybe I am a good sneak." A shit-eating grin spreads across his face as he takes a seat next to her, leaning back on the table.

"Fuck you,” she grumbles. Now It’s her turn to be the grumpy asshole. 

“Does it really bother you that much?” He chuckles.

"Yes, and I would appreciate it if you didn't do it again.” She enunciates her words carefully, making sure he understands. 

"Alright, alright."  A lovely smile graces his face that, clears the storm clouds from her mind. She's so used to seeing him scowling that she's thrown off whenever he does it. It's rusty yet tender enough to light up the room. She wonders what a full-blown smile of his would look like and what it would take to get it.

Also, I was wondering if any of my beloved mutuals would be interested in being a beta reader for me? I can pay in doodles and beta read as well <3

[fimproda]

Welcome / Fanfiction Masterlist

(This is a long post. Bear with me: I'm unable to stop the flow of words that come out of my mouth. It's why I love writing.)

Hello there!

As I plan on using this account primarily to advertise my stories, here's a "brief" rundown of my authorial profile. Please note that each and every one of my works is R-Rated, and with good reason. (I like myself some smut.)

@zoyalannister and I are co-authors on AO3, and under our names is the The Last Flowers series, in which we hold back no blows towards Cassandra Clare's truly idiotic plot and characterization in The Last Hours and attempt to write something decent. TLF is comprised of:

Hydrangea, a three-part, Grace-centered minilong which takes place between Chain of Gold and Chain of Iron;

Daisy, a six-part, Cordelia-centered minilong spanning from the Whispering Room scene in Chain of Gold to the end of Chain of Iron;

Chrysanthemum (upcoming), a nine-part fix-it of that trash fire that is Chain of Thorns;

Geranium, an AU stemming from a particular plot point in Hydrangea;

Petals, a collection of missing moments from the series.

Please note that I am zoyalannister's friend, co-author and beta reader for a reason, and any defense of Chain of Thorns will not be tolerated on this blog. (I might be joking, or I might not. Find out at your expense.)

As a solo writer, I've been active for a while in the A Court of Thorns and Roses fandom with the Under the Stars series, posting, as of today:

Constellations, a Nessian-centric minilong which takes place about a year after the events in Silver Flames;

In the shadow of a dream, a Gwynriel one-shot that sets the scene for a future Gwynriel long;

Space dust, a collection of 31 drabbles for Kinktober;

Splendor Solis, a little Elucien worldbuilding piece set in the Day Court.

If you're interested about this fandom, want to know more about my stories (current or future), want to hear me proselitizing about how SJM is a truly great writer and suffers from too much negative publicity, or simply want to chat, I'm here for this very reason.

You can also find me on Wattpad, where my "career" actually started. If there's someone between you who can read Italian and fancies themselves some mediocre The Mortal Instruments fanfiction, you can visit my Wattpad profile and be faced with these ol' things:

Remembering the Past, the first fanfic in a trilogy in which I tried to imagine what life after City of Heavenly Fire might have been like for our beloved heroes;

Living the Present, which is RtP's sequel;

Seeing the Future, which in turn is LtP's sequel and concludes the trilogy, as well as starting a new plotline with a fresh set of characters who star as protagonists in this next story I'm about to cite;

House of Cards, a Watty award-winning first story of a tetralogy I never got to write in its entirety. HoC is pretty sweet tho, if I do say so myself, and you can read it even if you know nothing about the Past, Present and Future trilogy.

The stuff on Wattpad is quite old and I'm not posting there anymore, as I now find AO3 more suitable for the kind of stories I write, and also a more "fanfiction-friendly" and "English-friendly" website. But I still respond to comments and interact with readers, since that's the bare minimum in my opinion.

And... this is all I have to say. Nice meeting you all!

[inquisimer]

I need to learn to draw so that I can make Isseya/Calien fanart o(< those two make me so insane and I am utterly bereft

[stainlesssteellocust]

TLF wise it’s currently looking like In This Dust That Was A City might be the next thing I upload, which was an idea for Cold Iron Bound that I split off to its own thing because the context and timing is a bit different. Also Cassette Tapes and Paper Clips if I’m ever happy with it, wherein Bob makes a crossover friend. But you never know, I might be in a CIB mood next time I have the time to write. The Sunset Crusade is…sort of ready, but I’m letting what I’ve got sit for a bit so I can check again whether I’m happy with it.

Whereas TMA is in “three different chapters are 90% ready but that last 10’s a bitch” mode as usual. Don’t worry though Agnes I’ll make another nice date for you and your boyfriend when I can

[mendedrum]

My discworld review after the first 17 books

1. Rincewind Series

I think the writing got stronger over time as the narratives became more plot driven. I still like the mystery/nondirectional aspect of TCOM and TLF though. There was an unpredictability about it that would be challenging to replicate with a main character that isnt like Rincewind: i.e someone who pretty much wants to live in boring times. Sourcery still bothers me the most. Firstly because the Wizards didnt get true repercussions about the damage they did. Secondly, while Sourcery ended on strong note, the sequel Faust Eric betrayed everything we've learned about Rincewind and the Dungeon Dimensions. It cheapened the drama invested on Sourcery and I found that aspect annoying. Interesting Times tho, picks up Rincewind's characterization once again and puts it back on the track, except that it doesnt explain what happened to Rincewind's status as a demon-bound-to-a-mortal kind of creature. It was great to see Rincewind showing off his political skills though. It's a good nod to his character being more attached and connected to the wider world compared to his wizard colleagues.

2. Wizards subseries

It's great that they've been fleshed out over time and over so many books. I like that since they're in Ankh-Mopork, they'd eventually get involved in many of the events that happen there. I like that their politics and power struggles are contained to mostly their own and don't really bother with the rest of the world. It's a refreshing POV to be in. Most surprising were their involvement in Mort, Moving Pictures, Reaper Man, Lords and Ladies, Men at Arms and Soul Music. They help expand the worldbuilding better. I still dont like The Bursar's characterization being sacrificed to make Ridcully a bit more respectable tho.

3. Death

Why is it that every major Death story just revolve around the thesis of "what happens when death gets distracted from his job"? Like I know why of course, he's so damn efficient that without him doing the work, everything in time-space just falls apart and tries to correct itself. Anyhow. Pratchett's Death is still the best take on real world death for me. It has helped me go thru difficult times, over grief and over the celebration of life. Death being one of the heart of Discworld is what makes Discworld truly a gift. You'll probably have to pull teeth for me to finish Reaper Man tho.

4. City Watch / Night Watch / The Watch

I haven't gotten far in these subseries but I do know that whenever cops are involved their ought to be high stakes suspense/thriller/action and drama. It's where Pratchett can truly flex on his whoddunit writing style. I find a lot of the narratives pretty standard action-thriller wise. Samuel Vimes is still my favorite of the bunch. I just cant get behind the character of Carrot, unfortunately (stop chasing me with pitchforks)

5. Witches

I'm gonna be honest. I dread the Witches subseries the most not because they're bad but because they tend to be dragging. With the exception of Equal Rites, the coven trio of Esmeralda Weatherwax, Gytha Ogg and Magrat Garlick leads the reader to familiar fairytale paths only for it to get upturned at the end. There are always lessons in the ongoing battle of what it means to be good, to be evil and most of all to be human. That's what make them slow at first. Reader must endure that feeling of "yeah ive been here before" for quite a long while. The payoff is always interesting nd thought provoking though, which makes everything worth it. I still dont know what to feel about Esmeralda Weatherwax being the universe's ultimate trump card. (Kinda same like rincewind and they both hate it)

6. Industrial Revolution

My favorite of all the subseries. Not a lot of people like them and they always get skipped in most reading lists but I often find the stories as the most shocking and creative. I like how they expand on the worldbuilding. I like the blatant parody on how the real world works. I like it when new character, beliefs and industries are introduced. I always thought I'd prefer the other subseries more but here I am lol. Cant wait to read the others.

Anyhow these are my discworld thoughts afer reading the first 17 books. Up next is Maskerade (which is making me groan coz i just finished Witches Abroad, which was very cool in fact and Maskerade is still Witch-centric)

But you can always not read them in publication order, one might say. But i wont do that. I'm a masochist unfortunately.